[Anime] Mai Hime, finished

[elfs]

Mai HiME, the anime series I was following last season, has now ended. All in all, I think it was a pretty damn good series and probably one of the better lessons on the craft of series writing out there.

The show does a good job of Chekhov's maxim ("If there is a gun on the mantlepiece in act 1, it had better be used by act 3"). Characters give us hints very early on about who and what they're going to become, while at the same time distracting us from our suppositions. The series closed with a very happy ending, mostly, where Mai got her dearest wish, the first one she voiced in the first episode: to live a "normal" life. When the tentacle monster shows up, you expect it to be Shiho, but it's not, it's Shizuru. And you should have known it was Shiho after all, because she showed us the combat uniform in episode seven!

I'm a little annoyed by Shizuru and Ishigami "surviving"; Shizuru murdered a whole bunch of people who, sure, were orchestrating one of the three factions, but still, she did kill a lot of people. I don't think even her resurrection with Natsuki would make her hale after that. And Ishigami was a power-mad asshole who, it was not subtly hinted, raped Yukariko, yet by the end of the series not only are they alive and well (they didn't die Hime-style, they were crushed to death) but they seem to have been restored to their innocent, happy selves and make a fine couple. Whatever.

Still, it was a lot better than it could have been. Definitely something to buy when it comes out in license. I do not look forward to the American dubs, though.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

It's been a long time since I've watched something in native Japanese, and on one hand it's because I've grown up some (this is not a crack at those who do watch raw or subbed anime, I'll explain myself here in a bit) and in a way become lazier.

On the first hand I used to believe in the sub over the dub religiously. I was a disaffected youth (is there any other kind these days?) and I felt completely turned away by my own culture. The immature answer is to adopt another one, especially one as xenophobic as the Japanese! They'll love having a crazy American join them, displaying such a complete knowledge of their culture absorbed solely through the medium of animated TV. Yeah, right. At some point I got a little older and realized what an idiot I had been, coming to understand that a culture is something that takes my own input rather then just passive absorption.

Now on the second hand english voice acting has gotten much better since the older days and it's easier at times to take something in when you can pay attention to all of it at once, rather then just the strip of text at the bottom of the screen. Anime is often nuanced, containing layers of meaning in each image. Missing those nuances became more annoying then the choice of voice actors as those practicing the craft became better at it.

So yeah older, lazier. Or maybe I've simply come to appreciate the works differently. Whatever. I would have liked at one point to have learned to understand spoken Japanese but that boat has sailed along with my desire to become one of them. Out of curiosity how has the experience changed for you between the choices of Dubbed, Subbed, and Raw? What does each option bring to the table for you?

On a final note, I'm no longer on the bleeding edge of the anime world so you're in all likelihood ahead of me here, but have you watched Boogiepop Phantom? I caught it recently and the whole thing was just a mind bender.
-D

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Well, the "bleeding edge" of anime is raws, which basically means we get to watch them the day after they come out in Japan. It's no longer a unique genre; instead, it's merely a medium, animation, combined with a cultural sensibility that's just a little alien to Americans, but in most cases is comprehensible.

I don't have xenophilia for Japan. My decision to learn Japanese was mostly a mercenary one: they're the second largest economy and still are, and it's easier to learn than Chinese. Although I've been aware of anime for years (can't be a member of the SF community and not know of it) I've only been into it for about two years now, now that it's become accessible (and techonologically challenging, rather than impossible). So I haven't watched Boogiepop Phantom yet.

As for the sub/dub distinction, I'm a subtitle fan for all foreign films. I think the writers and actors should be respected for their native language, and I think they have a better feel for what they wanted to communicate than the dub; about the only place this isn't true is in kid's animation, like Totoro. I love fansubbers, because fansubbers will put in footnotes and explain things, as well as tranlate signs and notes.

[shaterri.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! Glad that you finally finished it. I thought the ending (well, the dramatic ending) was a bit deus ex machina, but given the tone the series was shooting for up front I think it would've been dishonest to go for a really down ending; I was expecting a Big Reset Button of some sort to be pushed, and I thought the way they pushed it was a decent one.

As far as the comedic ending: while some of the bits surprised me too, overall I was really pleased to see it; some of the casual moments ranked with the series' best (Akira's glee at slicing the apple being my favorite example). My impression of the whole thing was that it was basically the production crew saying 'okay, all the gloom and doom is done now. Thanks for sticking with us through the really dark times. Here, have a lollipop.'

One thing to look for, BTW, that some folks in the forums have commented on: there's what looks like a clear lead-in to the next series, at least character-wise, around 23:30 into the Static-Subs fansub (right after the conversation about the future being less certain, after they close the door and we get Mai's 'something happened' reaction)...

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I liked Akira showing off her still-l33t ninja skilz; that was fun, and she and Takumi seem to make a fine couple. I did like Mikoto at the end; she was still a solid character, which pleased me. I did see the lead-in; she's wandering in the background when Natsuki, Mai, and Mikoto walk off-screen in the last shot, and you see her watching Mai with a surprised look on her face.

A one-panel of the character design can be found at Sunrise's home page: http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/my-hime/web/index.html Look down at the lower left; there's a panel labeled "Coming soon." You can see the same girl there.